Nebraska

While I'm not a big fan of Bruce Springsteen, Drew is so I hear him in the car quite often, his song Nebraska is perfect for today as it name checks Lincoln, Nebraska where we are staying. Perhaps not the most appropriate lyrics for our journey which is not at all like this, but rather a fun ride heading north. 

Lincoln is the capital of the state of Nebraska. While Omaha, Nebraska's biggest City, is probably more famous, Lincoln has that lovely feel of a proud city without all the craziness of a big city.

So we are here in Nebraska, the fourth of my six new states this holiday. From Drew's perspective it is 6 of his 12.

with statue of Lincoln

Last night after settling in we drove the three miles to downtown Lincoln and visited the Nebraska State Capitol Building. The vast majority of state capitol buildings have domed roofs, not unlike the Capital Building in Washington. We have seen examples of these in Atlanta and Little Rock. Nebraska's is quite different. Looking more like a bigger version of the Guildhall of my own home town, Swansea (Wales not Massachusetts) with a tower rather than a dome.   
Opposite the capitol building was a lovely Church called St. Mary's, so I popped in for a prayer.

Tonight we had dinner at Misty's Steakhouse. This Lincoln eatery is so popular they have opened two other branches around the city. But for us it was the downtown, the original, restaurant. Lincoln is an easy town to drive in, lots of one way streets make it east to negotiate, so we parked in a multi-story car park on the same block as the restaurant and went for dinner.
Given Nebraska is famous for its cows, beef was going to be on the menu tonight; and it was. Drew began with an appetiser of Strawberry Spinach Salad. This was strawberries, mandarin oranges, red onions and carmelised almonds tossed in poppy seed dressing and served over spinach leaves. The photo does not do it justice, it was tangy and fresh and Drew particularly liked the crunch of the almonds in the mix of other food. I opted for a dish I didn't expect to see over here, Escargot. These lovely snails were cooked in the french style with garlic butter and came with some lovely garlic toast for mopping up the juice  and I did. A surprising menu item, but a really tasty one.

Main courses came with the addition of a soup or salad. We had this course next, Drew opting for the French Onion Soup and I for the house salad with blue cheese dressing. You can tell I'm not slimming! Drew's soup was covered with toasted cheese and when that was cut through was clear and oniony. My salad was delightful, two types of lettuce, plum tomatoes, cucumber and lovely golden croutons.

For mains Drew went for the house speciality Prime Rib. This was 8oz of rib cooked in a sharp peppery gravy Drew had opted for mashed potato for his side. The rib was tender and juicy and every morsel went. I, while staying on the cow theme, opted for a steak. This was an 18oz T-bone, cooked very rare (blue as we call it back home) which is my ideal and served with a lovely baked potato. Excellent food, served with real charm and Nebraskan hospitality.

Drew thought he might be to full for dessert, but was persuaded by the look of the Cheesecake Medley. Four pieces of cheesecake, one chocolate  one vanilla  one strawberry and one with white chocolate topping on a chocolate biscuit base. Again a testimony to their flavour is that every single piece was eaten.  

We went back to the hotel and were in bed by 10 pm. A lovely day's driving, interesting sites and the first night in 6 when the weather channel doesn't have a severe warning for floods or lighting. It looks like we may well have left the storm behind.